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			SKATEBOARDING - 104
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		Backside Boardslides - Frontside Boardslides - The "Zen" Skater
	The BACKSIDE BOARDSLIDE This lesson in the "100 Series" takes us to our first trick in the  "Grinds and Slides" category of maneuvers. Sounds like fun, huh?!  Lets get to it. Our suggestion for your first "slide" technique is the Backside Boardslide. The Backside Boardslide is a fairly easy trick and is definitely the most simple of the slide tricks. As you advance in your slides and grinds you will be able to use the Backside Boardslide as a measurement of different surfaces and obstacles before you try more difficult or advanced maneuvers on these same objects. It's a good starting point to give you a feel for how your particular deck "slides" on various surfaces and textures. It will let you check the slide "velocity" and texture, so use this trick to check the slide surface before you try other more difficult slide and grinds.   Before trying to master "boardslides" you should have very good control of your ollies. You should really be able to perform 90 degree ollies and preferably even 180 degree ollies.  So depending on your skill level you may need to do a little "back tracking" to master these first.    Curbs are a pretty good object to begin practicing boardslides on because they are readily available and are a good starting height. You should definitely "wax" the curb before you begin. "Pro" wax works best and will last longer but in "lieu" of pro wax some bar soap will get you "sliding".   Mojo Rails are an excellent tool to learn your first boardslides on because they give you a nice smooth slide, the height is adjustable and because you can put them pretty much anywhere you want (preferably a nice, safe, non-traffic area with semi-soft surfaces on both sides of the ever so illusive obstacle).  When you begin you should approach your obstacle  from a nice "long" angle.  You should have your feet nicely separated and at the ends of the board. Keep you speed slow and controlled as you approach the object with your "back" towards it ( hence the term "backside" boardslide). When you get parallel to the object "pop" an ollie and get your front truck and nose up and over the lip so that you've landed on the object with your deck ( in between your trucks). You'll notice that you had to do a 90 degree ollie to execute this.  You are now sliding! At this point you are thinking either "I'm really good at this, aren't I!" or "Yikes, I'm going to die"! Balance is obviously a very important issue here ( as is life or death, of course). If you've caught the object with the center of your deck you'll find the balance issue much easier. During the slide, depending on the speed and velocity, you may need to lean back ( away from the direction of the slide) to keep control and stay balanced. It is important to keep your knees bent to absorb shock as you gain speed, lose speed, or hit "catches" during the slide.   Your "exit" can actually be either a turn and drop exit or an ollie exit. You should start with turn and drop exits before you work on ollie exits.  For the "turn" exit when you near "departure" you will need to start to turn 90 degrees back towards parallel to the object. Don't be too hasty about this or you'll catch your front truck before you make your exit. So be cool on the way off. Depending on the object, you may need to actually lift your front trucks over the object to get off it! If this is necessary just put some weight on the tail as you turn off the object kinda like when you do a kickturn in the air.  The ollie exits feel and look way cooler. Just give the board a little bounce as you "near departure" and you will fly off the object just like the cool space cadet you are. You'll need to use your body for "twist in the air" inertia to get your 90 degree back ollie complete!   You'll have a lot of fun working on "Backside Boardslides"and it'll feel so cool to do your first perfect slide with a smoooooth exit! This is a grand maneuver fit for kings of our realm so as you develop your style on this one be sure to "make it so". Add some of your own pizzazz and flair to your Backside Boardslides and they will be sure to illicit howls of appreciation from the other Knights of the Round Table, the Lords and Ladies, and all subjects viewing you as you perform your gallant skills before the Royal Court.
	The FRONTSIDE BOARDSLIDE If you've conquered the "Backside Boardslides" from our last lesson we might as well try our "feet" at the next step in boardslides, the "Frontside Boardslide".  The Frontside Boardslide is much like the "Backside" version. For this trick you will be using all the techniques you have learned and mastered from the Backside Boardslide. However, the "Frontside" IS more difficult and will most likely "psych" you out a bit. The reason for this is that doing the frontside version of this trick puts you in a "blindside" stance. For most skaters the Frontside Boardslide is the first trick they learn that puts them in this "blindside" stance. It feels quite awkward at first to be "sliding" when you don't have a full visual of where you are going that direction! It feels like you're going backwards and in fact, you are! But just like everything else, you get used to it and yes, practice does make perfect! Do your first frontside boardslides on a nice low object ( like curbs) until you get comfortable enough to assault higher foes.  Remember to "wax" up your object before you begin (particularly while learning). As you approach the obstacle come in to it frontside at a nice "long" angle. This is more well known as a "mellow" approach or angle. You should have your feet nicely separated and at the ends of the board for maximum control and balance. Also you should keep your speed slow and controlled ( at least on your first few "dozen" attempts) as you approach the object with your "front" towards it. As you get parallel to the object "pop" a 90 degree ollie so that your front truck is up and over the lip and so that you've landed on the object with your deck ( in between your trucks). Slide boy slide!      Mojo Rails are an excellent tool to learn your first boardslides on because they give you a nice smooth slide, the height is adjustable and because you can put them pretty much anywhere you want (preferably a nice, safe, non-traffic area with semi-soft surfaces on both sides of the ever so illusive obstacle).  During the slide, depending on the speed and velocity, you'll need to lean forward ( away from the direction of the slide) to keep control and stay balanced.   Your dismount can be regular or "fakie".  To dismount with your regular stance you should keep your shoulders in the same postion and angle to the object as when you mounted it. You'll use your lower body to do your turn off or your "pop" off. Twisting with your hips is a good way to begin practicing your regular stance frontside boardslide dismounts. Keep your shoulders straight! ( In the same position as your mount and slide).   The "fakie" Frontside Boardslide dismount requires a technique almost exactly like your Backside Boardslide dismount. ( This WILL take some creative visualization to grasp spend some time just THINKING about the differences in a frontside boardslide "fakie" dismount and a backside boardslide dismount. It'll be good for you to concentrate this hard on the subtle intricacies of these two maneuvers. P.S.- Did you know that just thinking about these moves over and over and concentrating on every individual aspect will actually make you a better skater? Try it some time. If you actually spend the time concentrating HARD on your moves the next time you try them you'll find that you "master" them much quicker. Weird huh? ( insert twilight zone theme song here))  O.Kback to reality!  When you did the regular stance exit you "completed" the same direction as your mount and slide. When you do a "fakie" dismount you actually will slightly reverse your "turn" direction. You will need to turn your shoulders the opposite direction as you did on your regular dismount ( your shoulders actually end up being turned to "backside"). For most "fakie" exits you will need to ollie the high end of the board toward your frontside as you dismount and swing fakie to your landing. Get it? Got it? Good!! Go for it!!!   Either way, when you've got it, you'll have hit another plateau of excellence on your journey to a higher ground. A place far above the rest of the world, of the mundane, of the average. You're following a trail, up a mountain. You are a warrior. You can see a Warrior Spirit ahead of you, guiding you to the true and perfect person and skater that is within you. He wants you to succeed, to conquer yourself and your fears, to feel complete. You are floating, you are flying you are free.
	The ZEN OF SKATE If  you've gotten here, then you're getting there. Where? Where you want to be. You've conquered a step in your struggle against nature and the world of gravity that surrounds us. You've also met a part of you deep inside that you've never known. It is powerful. You CAN do anything! I'd like to leave you with a short note about you, yourself, and skating. What's it all about? Why do you skate? Do you do it to be cool? To be a rebel? To be destructive? To get a rush? To get chicks? To be an athlete? To be a star? To be the "best that you can be'? No matter what motivated you to start skating, as you continue to skate it will change. Skating will actually change you. It will become a part of you. It will teach you about yourself. It will show you what you are capable of accomplishing, and the answer to THAT is ANYTHING. One of the results of your time, your energy and your newly developed skills will be a "mental edge" over the black and white existence of the rest of the world and a "zen-like" appreciation for life because of the burning desire to immerse yourself in what to you, has become ART!